


Richard John Grayson

by Eliana_debrey



Series: DickJay Week 2021 [3]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Horror, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Manipulation, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Suspense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:15:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29761581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eliana_debrey/pseuds/Eliana_debrey
Summary: Mom always told him to keep a light on during the night to scare off the monsters.After struggling his entire life, young student Jason Todd finds out he is the sole heir to Wayne Manor, but strange things happen around him.
Relationships: Alfred Pennyworth & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson/Jason Todd, Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Alfred Pennyworth & Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne
Series: DickJay Week 2021 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2167866
Comments: 6
Kudos: 40
Collections: DickJay Week 2021





	Richard John Grayson

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!  
> This is the last entry I'll do for the DickJay challenge 2021 but it's also the first chapter of a two-shot and the first part of my new series 'The Manor'  
> Hope you'll enjoy it!

THE CASE OF RICHARD GRAYSON

* * *

Mom always told him to keep a light on during the night to scare off the monsters, and for some reason, Willis had never asked to switch it off, no matter how much money it costed, the light had to be on. Catherine would repeat it every time Jason asked why he couldn’t sleep in the dark, she’d tell him it was because of the monsters. He had promised after dad went to prison that he would keep the light on, that even outside during the night he would walk under the street lamps.

He doesn’t remember if it’s something he created from when he was a child, something he built not capable to remember reality, a faint memory, or a vivid dream. Still, one day he tried, he closed the curtains, switched the light off, and waited. He waited and waited thinking that his parents tricked him his entire childhood when he heard them. Whispers, claws against the floor, growls behind him.

“Jason,” murmured in his ear.

He had screamed, switched on the small flashlight in his hands. Nothing around him, just the faint smell of flowers and dirt after the rain. He kept his promise after. The only time he heard them again was years after when he came back home when he found his mom half drown in her blood and puke.

The flat had been dark, cold, it smelled weird, like a garden. Jason almost forgot the fungus growing on the wall because of the water dripping from the flat over them. He didn’t even smell the disgusting perfume of death. He heard steps around him, snickers, mocking voices. He swore he felt a hand in his hair.

The neighbor found him later the evening. She kept him for a few weeks and the social services told Jason he had a grandmother that lived in Gotham, not too far away from where he lived before. He said his good by to Natalia, promising he would come back to see her from time to time. She was nice Natalia, a good woman, he had warned her about the monsters, she had ruffled his hair and kissed him on his cheek. Two weeks later they found her corps drowned at the pier. He had cried until he couldn’t, and then he had cried more when Ma held him.

Ma wasn’t terrible, she was just not used to be a guardian again. She taught him important things, kept him warm, clothed, and well-fed. She just didn’t hug like Mom or Natalia. She wouldn’t read with him at night like Dad. She left him the small light so that he could keep it at night, she started doing the same when Jason told her to do it, tears on his cheeks after they found Natalia.

On the other hand, Ma helped him with school work more than anyone did before, she pushed further all the time, patted his shoulder when he brought back a good grade. He had new books all the time, and she was the first one to read his novella, then his articles for the high school journal. She cried when he got accepted into college to become a journalist. She held him in her arms for the longest time when he told her he also liked boys. She went to his high school and threatened the principal when he didn’t punish his bullies. Ma was a wolf in long frilly dresses that smelled like old women. Still, he loved her deeply. She dried his tears when his dad died in prison and tucked him to bed with all the care in the world, fighting against her own tears.

Jason buried her a few weeks ago. She died in the hospital with him next to her. She told him he made her the proudest woman in the world. He cried in her hands, told her she didn’t have the right to say that, that she had to come for his graduation. She smiled and kissed his forehead.

They were few at her funerals, she was a widow, her only son was dead, but she had friends, children she helped, people that liked the old stubborn woman, Jason’s best friend who came all the way from Star City to help him pack everything.

And then Jason was alone.

* * *

The ringtone startles him awake in his hotel room. He searches with his hand around him, on the bed, under the bed, and realizes it’s on the desk at the end of the room. He rubs his face to push the sleepiness away: it’s ineffective. His phone stops ringing.

And it starts again.

Jason growls, he hopes it’s his boss telling him the article was good, he can’t type another version of his work. Slowly, Jason sits up and then stands up, small black dots appear around him. He stood up too fast.

The light of his phone makes him groan when he turns it. It’s one in the morning in Dublin and Jason wants to punch something. He presses the green button instead and vaguely mumbles a greeting still hoping it to be his superior.

“Mister Jason Todd?” the voice says. Old, but still strong.

“It’s him,” he answers suddenly more awake. Please don’t be bad news he prays.

“A pleasure to finally have you on the phone, Mister Todd. I call you because I have some news for you, some great news,” the man says.

He is eating pizza at three in the morning. Took him an hour on the phone with the old man, Alfred Pennyworth, and then thirty minutes to realize what happened, and finally thirty minutes for the pizza to come. He doesn’t even know which one he took, can’t taste it. He is halfway through it when it hits him. He is a direct heir to some manor in Gotham. Who would have thought? He knew that his mom had been from a good family but she had been thrown away and her parents didn’t even think about showing up for her funerals. Social services tried to contact them and they said they didn’t want Jason. He was glad, he didn’t want them either.

They were dead too, visibly. Car accident. What kind of luck was that? He was definitely all alone now.

Alone and heir to their fortune and to the manor they inherited from his grandmother’s side.

He calls Roy, tells the young man that fucked up story. What should he do? Go back to Gotham? Take a look at the manor and sell it anyway. He isn’t going to take care of it, he wants to travel, to keep writing, he can’t keep a manor. He can’t live there and keep it. He laughs nervously on the phone and Roy asks him if he alright. Jason doesn’t know. It’s weird to be faced with your own solitude. He is the last Todd and Johnson of his family, and apparently the last Wayne too.

He knows the Wayne name, knows the company, the old family. The manor is his, the fields too, the large amount of money left by Damian Wayne when he died to his grand-parents still mostly here and the part from the Johnson family too. Jason who for the longest time struggled with money and to find a home is now richer than he thought possible.

* * *

He stays on his guards. Good things never happen without bad news. He feels a shiver coming down his spine the minute he steps in Gotham. The man he had on the phone is waiting for him at the airport, he is wearing a nice suit that you can only find on butlers. Jason doesn’t know it’s him until the old man grabs his shoulder. He tells Jason he can always recognize the Wayne blood, Jason gives him a small chuckle, he isn’t weirded out, not yet.

Alfred, the butler, came with the Rolls Royce, Jason spends ten minutes looking at it before even thinking about touching it. He used to jack off the tires of cars like that, now it’s his. He wants to sit next to the old man but his place is in the back insists mister Pennyworth.

“Alfred, is fine, master Todd,” he says driving expertly around the city.

“Then you have to call me Jason,” there is a slight frown on Alfred’s face.

“That would be highly inappropriate,” he says. Jason chuckles.

“It will be our little secret, Alfred.”

Roy harasses him with texts, he wants to see pictures of the manor, he also wants to drive the Rolls when he comes to visit. Jason smiles fondly at the screen it seems to catch Alfred’s attention.

“Do you have a sweetheart, master Jason?” Jason notes the presence of master in front of his name but he doesn’t say anything, baby steps. He puts his phone back in his coat.

“Just a friend. He is curious about the house.”

“We should be there in twenty minutes, the manor is barely in Gotham, the first masters loved their peace and quiet,” Alfred explains.

“Nice.”

When Jason heard about a manor he thought it was going to be a very large house. Not a castle. It takes five minutes from the gates to the garage. The garden is large, there is even a small forest on one side. He doesn’t want to look too excited but Jason is glued to the window observing everything. He could get a dog if he stayed, he has always loved dogs.

He forgets all about the garden when he sees the sheer size of the manor. He can’t believe Alfred lived here alone for years.

“Do you take care of this by yourself?” he asks suddenly.

“Mostly, if the manor needs more work we’ll call for some help. But most of the care is done by me.”

“You must be a magician or something.”

“I wake up early with the manor and goes to sleep late with it too,” the old man chuckles.

Jason sits back, hands behind his head. The car stops slowly.

“Never felt lonely? Never brought a madam Pennyworth?”

“The spirits leaving in the attic and the monsters under my bed keep me company,” Alfred answers before leaving the car.

Jason opens his door and gets out on his own before the butler can do it, he gives the old man a sheepish smile before heading for the trunk to take his luggage. Alfred tries to take them from him but Jason grabs the heaviest first.

“Don’t tire yourself, Al’, I need you to show me around.”

“I’m not that ancient,” Alfred answers drily.

“Don’t take it personally, I just don’t like people doing things for me.”

Alfred takes the second piece of luggage.“Better get used to it,” he teases.

The manor smells fresh but a fragrance is still bothering Jason, he can’t pinpoint what, though. He follows Alfred around as he shows the different rooms. Remembering the size of the manor Jason knows it’s going to take hours to finish the tour, even more when he sees the library. He steps inside not bothering to look if Alfred saw him. He moves around, touches the back of some of the books, stops in front of a desk with croquis everywhere, he takes one, it’s a man he looks vaguely like Jason but taller, stronger, he looks dangerous. Dark hair, clear grey stormy eyes.

Steps in his back make Jason turn to look behind but no one is there. He walks past the last bookcase looking for Alfred. Steps again, Jason breathes slowly, it’s probably Alfred somewhere around. Jason puts the croquis back where it was.

“Master Jason?” If he jumped and screamed it’s between him and Alfred.

“You can’t do that,” he cries a hand on his heart.

“My apologies, I didn’t mean to scare you. You found the youngest Wayne’s sketches I can see,” Alfred walks to stand next to Jason.

“The youngest Wayne?”

“Master Damian, he was quite the artist as you can see,” Alfred says patting the drawings fondly.

“When did he died?” Jason asks and realizes it’s probably insensitive. “Sorry, I didn’t want to…I’m sorry.”

“It’s quite alright. He died fifteen years ago. Master Damian was stabbed during a robbery.”

“Here?”

“No, in Gotham. It was on the news,” Alfred says and then scrutinizes Jason. “Hmm… you’re still quite young maybe you didn’t hear about it when it happened.”

“I wasn’t really reading the news at nine, that’s true,” Alfred smiles at him softly.

“Do you want to see your room?”

It’s the master bedroom, bigger than his first student flat he realizes. There is even a bathroom. The view from the window is impressive, Jason can see the small forest from where he is, he opens his window to walk on the balcony. Silence, everything is silent, no car, no noise. Just peace and quiet. Jason chuckles at the idea that all of this is his. Wayne manor belongs to him, it’s just crazy.

He lets Alfred go back to what he has to do and starts unpacking his clothes, computer, and books. He’ll need to start calling agencies in a few days. He knows the manor should go back to someone who will take care of it and put life in its walls. Jason can’t do that, he has still so much to do, and living Gotham brings back painful memories. He can’t stay in this city, Gotham is in his past, it won’t be his future.

Alfred calls him for dinner, he prepared a huge meal that he wants Jason to eat at the large table in the dining room, alone. Jason objects, he tells Alfred to sit with him, to eat too. The old man first refuses, Jason, threatens to not touch his plate if he doesn’t a companion.

“The best meals are shared, Alfred. Let’s eat dinner together from no on,” he sees the butler pursing his lips but he nods in the end.

Sleep doesn’t come easily for him. It’s always difficult in a new place, even in such a soft bed. But the bed smells weird, in a nice way, but it’s still bothering Jason. He can’t place it but he is sure he knows it. It’s sweet, intoxicating. Like flowers, he thinks before drifting away.

Someone is over him, lying on top of him, pressing against his back, huffs in his ear. He shivers before twisting his body, tries to move the person on top of him. Fingers on his back, pushing him back against the mattress, nails slowly digging in his skin. Whispers. Sharp pain on his shoulder blades where the nails open the skin. Jason doesn’t react, it’s too foggy. Just a weird dream he thinks.

“Come and play, Jay,” a voice says behind him.

He tells them to leave him alone. The teeth digging their way in his shoulder make him scream. He rolls off the bed, falls on the ground, and bumps his head against the carpet.

The light is on, a weight lifts from his shoulder, his breath is getting back to a normal pace, it was just a terrible dream. He buries his head in the sheets, needs the contact against his face. After a while, he realizes his hands are shaking, his legs feel weak under him when he pushes on them, they buckle under his weight but thankfully the bed is just here to stop him from falling too hard.

Back against the mattress he rubs a hand over his face, the wind howls and moves the windows, he jumps on reflex.

“It’s just the wind, asshole,” he berates himself.

He catches a glimpse of his shoulder and stills. There is blood. There is blood slowly dripping from his shoulder, a faint feeling of pain. He needs to see his back, he needs to know. Jason grabs his phone and takes pictures as fast as he can and inspect his back.

There are scratches, long, bloody, covering his entire back. He sees the beginning of a bite on his shoulder and it looks strangely human-like. Small dots cover his vision, he tries to blink them away only to understand he is panicking. If he can’t calm down he’ll faint, he knows it, it happened to him before. He needs to focus, to remember what his shrink taught him.

His head hits the pillow before he can control his breathing.

* * *

Waking up is difficult, especially after a panic attack. A violent panic attack. Jason feels like crap, his limbs are heavy, and cheeks burn from the tears he shed last night. His phone is still in his hands proof that he didn’t hallucinate all of the events. Still. The screen is broken, small pieces of glass are slowly falling on the bed. It looks like someone took a hammer and smashed it as hard as possible.

He needs to check his computer. His pictures automatically update to his cloud, he’ll have access to them the moment he opens it. Propping himself against the pillows he opens the small laptop and starts typing his password. When the screen blinks to life a bird crashes against the window making him flinch. Hard.

Slowly, Jason stands up, a hand over his heart. He can’t do that every day or he’ll die from cardiac arrest. He opens the large glass door and sees the small robin barely breathing on the ground. Poor thing is probably disoriented from the shock, didn’t see the glass, and just went through it.

Jason picks it up slowly careful not to break anything. He tries to inspect its wings but the bird starts moving and flying around, one of his claws scratches Jason’s forehead before he escapes and flies away. Jason scoffs.

“What the hell,” he whispers to himself. “What the hell,” he says a bit louder.

As he turns back to his bed he sees his computer against the ground slip in half. A small laugh bubbles up Jason’s throat, he pulls on his hair before kneeling in front of his laptop. There is no saving the device, it’s out of commission, Jason wants to scream.

“What the fuck,” he growls picking it up. “For fuck sake, Todd. What did you do?“

He probably threw it too fast when he went to catch the bird, or he broke it when he jumped and doesn’t remember. He needs to do something about that, he _needs_ his computer for work. He can’t just call the daily planet and tell them he fucked up because of a bird. They would never let him forget it.

First, he needs to wash the robin’s scratch, he doesn’t know what kind of diseases the fierce bird was carrying. He stops in front of the mirror of the bathroom. He looks like he feels. Exhausted. But the scratch isn’t deep, he’ll probably clean with soap during his shower and take care of the bite at the same ti—

The bite isn’t here anymore. His skin is pale as usual, he tries to twist in the mirror to see his back. Same. Nothing, not even a little redness. He loses his cool, he chuckles and bursts out laughing. He knows they were there. He saw them. He remembers seeing them, it’s impossible. He knows it.

“It was probably a dream, Todd. Pull yourself together, dammit,” he screams at the mirror.

He needs to go in town. Buy a new phone. Talk with the notary about the manor and how they can sell it. He needs to see if there aren’t any weird demands on his grandparents’ will. He’ll check his cloud in a library or something just to be sure he dreamed all of it.

Alfred is making breakfast in the kitchen when Jason finally leaves his room, he feels a lot better after a cold shower, less sticky. Alfred watches him with a small smile as he keeps kneading dough on the marbled counter.

“Did you have a good night?” Jason sighs.

“You heard me screaming?” he asks looking everywhere but at the old man.

“I think even the dead heard you, dear master Jason. Nightmare?”

“More or less. I always have a hard time sleeping in a new bed.”

“Breakfast might help you feel better, tea or coffee?” Jason grimaces.

“I’m sorry I won’t be taking breakfast here, I just need to ring a taxi, you have a phone here?” Alfred frowns.

“I can drive you, no need to hire someone,” he says slamming the dough one more time against the counter.

“I don’t want to bother you. Just going to visit Mom you know, it’s been a long time since I last saw her,” Alfred hums.

“We have a landline, it works up sometimes with the rain but it should be fine now, in the library,” the old butler tells Jason.

The library is less creepy than the evening before, light everywhere making it difficult to find the massive room frightening. He finds the phone next to the desk he saw last time. As he waits for the secretary to take his address he looks at the other drawings on the desk, he moves them slowly, doing his best to not tear anything the young Wayne drew before dying. There is a dog and a cat sleeping together on a sofa, a young man laughing at something. A figure sleeping in a bed, it’s a sketch, barely a few lines, someone sleeping peacefully under a large heavy blanket. He puts back all the drawings on the desk when he hears the secretary coming back on the phone.

* * *

The walk to the gates is calm and silent as if nothing happened during the night. But something is bothering him, he doesn’t get what, just something out of the ordinary weighing him down. The cab is waiting in front of the entrance, the driver is nice, he has the deep accent of Gotham, Jason’s accent. The driver talks about his family, his daughter who is just starting school, his wife pregnant with a second child, he is lively and loud, Jason likes that.

His first stop is at the cemetery, he didn’t lie, he wanted to see his parents and his grandmother. He steps into the flower shop to buy some for his mom, she always loved sunflowers, said they were always making her happy. He asks for a nice bouquet, the small lady gives him a sad smile when he says it’s for his mom, she wishes him a good day when he leaves her shop.

He stops at the exit. Flowers. He remembered the smell now, chrysanthemums, it’s the smell inside the manor. Doesn’t seem like the kind of flowers to have inside he frowns.

Mom’s grave is simple, Ma paid the grave she could manage when she got Jason. He needs to pay a visit to his grandmother too, leave something on the grave maybe a photograph. She said she always wanted to go back to Dublin one day, he would bring her city to her.

A small bird sits on Catherine’s grave and looks curiously at Jason.

“Hey buddy, paying your respects?” Jason chuckles.

The bird opens its beak and starts singing, his small body moving up and down as he keeps going, suddenly it stops and a crow charges at it. The small bird disappears in the sky. Jason turns back unimpressed to look at the crow now sitting on his mother’s grave. He notices it's missing one eye.

“Very nice,” he says drily.

Another crow croaks next to Jason’s boots.

“Hey,” the young man says unsure. The crow hops closer to him. “I don’t have food.” The crow doesn’t seem to career, it rubs against Jason’s leg. “Oh, you’re a hugger.”

The crow still sitting on the grave croaks and both of them fly away. Jason watches them drifting away snorting.

“Weird,” he mumbles.

“They are used to human,” a small voice says behind him. It’s a boy, probably a lot younger than Jason. He is carrying a cat in his arms. “In Norse mythology they are protectors,” he tells Jason.

“That’s…nice? You come here often?” he asks without thinking.

“Only to meet interesting people,” the kid explains.

“And did you? Meet interesting people?” the kid purses his lips and then smiles slowly.

“I’m not sure yet,” he says turning his back to Jason slowly walking away.

“What the hell,” Jason whispers to himself. He gets it, teenagers and edgy aesthetic but it’s probably pushing it.

Gotham hasn’t changed in the few months he was away, it’s still the same old city he grew up in. Ma’s old house is still standing, new people probably moved in. He notes that the garden looks better than when he tried to take care of it. All the plants he tried to take care of died the month he bought them, he quickly abandoned the idea to have a nice and pretty garden in spring.

The neighbors are still the same, they recognize him and ask him how he has been doing if he is coming to Gotham or just passing by. His high school crush tells him to say hello to Ma on his behalf, Jason says he will with a shy smile.

He buys a new phone and calls Roy immediately but his friend is working, Jason leaves him a voicemail. He tells him about the manor and how beautiful it is, and that he needs to come and see it before Jason finds a buyer. They need to have at least one small evening together, maybe Kory would come and enjoy it with them. He could give Alfred’s a day off and take care of it.

The honk of a car pulls him from his daydream, he turns his head and recognizes the old Rolls Royce with Alfred behind the wheel. The old man slowly stops next to Jason in the street and opens the window.

“Would you care for a ride, Master Jason?” Jason sits next to Alfred a the front. He doesn’t really like being behind, feels too impersonal.

“What brings you in town?”

“A few errands, and a wandering master,” Alfred answers smiling behind his mustache.

“Did you find him?” Jason teases.

“I think he is the one who found me.”

* * *

At the gates Jason tells Alfred he’ll go for a walk around the gardens, to explore the entire field around the manor, Alfred tells him not to get lost. Jason feels slightly mocked but he understands quickly that Alfred was probably not joking.

The exterior is massing, and the forest is literally a forest. The hide-and-seek games must have been so sick when kids lived here. Jason steps in the wood curious to see if there is a fence somewhere that will stop his progression. He does find one, behind it there is a house with ivy running everywhere and broken windows, one part of the house seems black and crumbled as if a fire destroyed everything here.

Jason tries to climb the fence but as soon as he grabs its top to pull up a crow sits between his hands. It has one eye missing.

“Following me, mister crow?” the bird taps on his finger with his beak. “Still no food, buddy,” it keeps tapping without hurting. “You keeping guard of the house? Don’t want intruders?” the bird extends his wings and croaks. “Okay, you win.”

Jason lets go vaguely amused, the bird keeps walking up and down the fence croaking like a crazy crow. He opens his wings probably ready to fly away but a small robin flies in front of him before sitting on the tree right next to Jason, the small bird chirps from his branch. It hops closer to Jason in front of the vaguely threatening crow.

“That’s a territorial crow, baby bird, he isn’t going to let you play with him,” Jason says to the robin, the chirps at him. “Bye little robins, bye mister crow,” he says thinking he is losing his mind talking to birds. The crow croaks loudly and clacks his beak.

Apart from the two birds he met, Jason doesn’t see any other animals in the forest, nor does he hear them. The forest is dead silent and even growing up in the city Jason finds that weird, forests aren’t supposed to be still like that, almost dead.

He walks faster towards the manor, a stick cracks under his shoes and the sound bounces back against the trees, he walks faster. The smell of flowers is here again, earthy, sweet, obnoxious. Something catches his coat, he pulls on it scratching his cheek against it. He hears something, it could be the crow from before or a chuckle. Jason doesn’t look back, he keeps walking. The wind moves his hair around his face, it almost feels like a caress, a disgusting shiver runs down Jason’s back.

The minute he steps out of the forest he risks looking back and finds nothing. A nervous laugh bubbles in his throat, dread slowly being replaced by shame.

“Can’t believe I ran like a frightened kid,” he sighs a bit calmer.

Alfred is already at the door when Jason steps on the first step of the entrance stair, he opens the door to let the young man come in and stares at his face for a long second.

“Maybe you should take care of this scratch master Jason?” Alfred suggests.

“Ah, yes, thanks. Do you need any help with dinner?” Alfred looks offended for a quick second and then smiles fondly.

“No need to worry about that, I’ll serve dinner in an hour, take your time.”

* * *

Jason takes a shower before going to eat, he stands under the warm water, cracks his neck bending it from one side to the other. He feels the knots in his back slowly diminishing to finally disappear. The flight back to Gotham, and the eventful journey slowly making his limbs heavy and his eyes tired. He almost dozes off on his bed only wearing his towel. The mattress promises a sweet sleep, but he needs to eat something, he skipped breakfast and lunch when he went to the city and his belly is starting to protest.

Wearing fresh clothes he leaves the bedroom ignoring the bed siren calls. He decides to go back to the library and inspect the different books, since his computer broke he needs to distract himself. He walks around the different parts, understands the careful organization of the different books.

Jason turns his head to the right catching a shadow from the corner of his eye. He walks backward to where he thought the shadow was, inspects the space between the two bookcases, and sees nothing, he sighs it probably was his hair moving or the fatigue of his sleepless night. He dismisses it and heads to the kitchen to help Alfred set the table, he hopes he’ll have the old butler eating with without a fight.

In the end, Jason decides to go to sleep right after dinner, he doesn’t feel brave enough to try and explore the manor while fighting the sandman. He barely reads the first page of his new book and he is deeply asleep, glasses still on his nose.

There is a crystalline laugh in his dream, soft and close to him, long fingers in his hair. He lets it be, it’s been a long time he dreamt about his mom.

“Mom? That’s the first time someone called me that,” a voice says over him, amusement in the tone. “I would be proud to have a beautiful son like that,” it keeps going.

Jason frowns, the fingers stopped. He mumbles something unintelligible.

“Hush, little wing, go back to sleep.”

He sits up suddenly. Go back to sleep? The light is on and he sees no one around him. The door is closed and the window too. Jason steps out of the bed and searches everywhere around him, in the bathroom, even in the corridor.

“Who is here? Show yourself,” he says loudly. “I’ll call the police,” he screams.

The hair on his arms stands up at the shift of temperature in the room, his shivers feeling a prickling sensation in his neck like he is being observed.

“Show yourself, for fuck’s sake!” he screams again.

“No need to be so loud,” Jason’s stomach drops. He twists to look behind his back and is met with nothing.

“What the hell?” he whispers.

“Look at him, he thinks he is getting crazy,” another smaller voice says.

“I can fucking hear you,” Jason answers looking everywhere.

“You can!” the first voice screams.

Jason falls on the ground the moment he sees the man popping out of nowhere in front of him. Now that he is on the ground he can see that the guy is floating. Jason starts laughing nervously. He made it, he has lost his mind. The man he saw floats next to him.

“You can see me?” he says, and he sounds hopeful. “You can see and hear me! This is fantastic,” he grabs Jason’s face and plants a kiss on his forehead. “The others are going to freak out,” he says before disappearing again.

“The others,” Jason whispers in the empty bedroom.


End file.
